{"id":166,"date":"2010-01-26T00:06:21","date_gmt":"2010-01-26T08:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ups.edu\/studyingabroad\/?p=166"},"modified":"2013-04-01T08:48:22","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T15:48:22","slug":"watching-the-empty-suitcase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/2010\/01\/26\/watching-the-empty-suitcase\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching the empty suitcase…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am looking at an empty suitcase and backpack on my floor, begging to be filled with clothes and junk and other random oddities that I for some odd reason have decided I can’t live without. I seem to always leave packing to the last minute (just like my papers). Perhaps I am waiting for the building tension and excitement of 3:00 am insomnia. But in all honesty, I am simply struggling with the true realization that I am going to Morocco! For a whole semester!<\/em> It still feels all too surreal. The impending two and half day train ride across the continent seems to be so much more real to me. Or the day-long drive I face early tomorrow morning with my father. Six hours from Missoula to Browning Montana, where we will spend the evening visiting friends and staying the night in a hotel. Then another early morning as I catch the train to Chicago, and eventually, Philadelphia. From there I catch a flight to Paris, a transfer, and then I arrive in Rabat, Morocco. I just can’t wrap my head around it. Excited? certainly. But in the sort of excited way you read a fiction novel. You know that it isn’t exactly real, but you still engage with the story, empathize and struggle with the main protagonist. Only, in this story, I am the protagonist. Right now, however, looking at my checklist of packing items, I still feel like I am watching some character ready themselves for the adventure ahead. Ha ha. Reality will hit me square in the face sometime two week from now, I am sure. But until then, don’t be surprised if I sound like someone reporting a living dream!<\/p>\n

\"Fill

Fill Us Soon! My empty bags...<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perhaps I am waiting for the building tension and excitement of 3:00 am insomnia. But in all honesty, I am simply struggling with the true realization that I am going to Morocco! For a whole semester! It still feels all too surreal. The impending two and half day train ride across the continent seems to be so much more real to me.Or the day-long drive I face early tomorrow morning with my father.<\/p>\n

Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2010-cony-craighead-11-morocco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5349,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions\/5349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}